Microbial communities in marine sediments modify success of an invasive macrophyte.

ABSTRACT: Invasive plants have extensive impacts on ecosystem function and biodiversity globally. Our inability to manage invasive species stems in part from a lack of understanding of the processes that control their successful establishment and spread. To date, studies have largely considered how above-ground processes control native/invasive plant interactions. Emerging research from terrestrial and wetland ecosystems demonstrates that below-ground processes under microbial control can determine the outcome of interactions between native and invasive plants. Whether sediment microbes modify the success of invasive macrophytes in marine ecosystems is untested, despite marine sediment microbes controlling many ecological processes (e.g. nutrient cycling) comparable to those in terrestrial ecosystem

SUBMITTER: Gribben PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5575248 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature